midwife shortage

news:http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1267804,00.html
This story was played out on Sky and the BBC yesterday. An independent study-that I can't findonline- has shown what anyone who has had a baby in this country recently must have noticed; there are not enough midwives.

Patricia Hewitt has recently had us all laughing cynically by saying all mothers should be offered a home birth. For those of us who have high risk pregnancies and cannot get proper care the idea that idea that those fortunate enough to be well enough for home births will be able to access two midwives-while the rest of us barely get one, is a real laugh.

When things got a bit scary with my pregnancy and it looked like I might need a section then and there, the one midwife on duty admitted she had nine labouring mums to care for and that there were no beds in the hospital. Fortunately I did not need an immediate section.

I did end up having an emergency section a few days later. I wont go into some of the problems I had post operatively getting proper help-but shortage of staff means leaving mums in serious pain with no help.

Meanwhile there are qualified midwives who can't get work.

Is this more of the Culture of Death? I don't know.
But one thing has interested me-the news reports say birth rates are increasing. I wonder who are those mums?